Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

In the Prologue to Triangle: The Fire that Changed America, author David Von Drehle explains that Manhattan’s Charities Pier had become known as “Misery Lane” because bodies were put there after various disasters (1). On March 26, 1911, the pier was made into a makeshift morgue after a catastrophic fire in a high-rise garment factory killed hundreds of workers. According to Von Drehle, the fire at the Triangle Waist Company “was for ninety years the deadliest workplace disaster in New York history—and the most important” (3). Because death was a routine workplace hazard in early 20th-century industrial areas, the 146 deaths from the fire were not unusual. However, this fire proved to be a crucial moment in a chain of events that forced fundamental reforms in New York and the nation (3). Despite numerous tragedies leading up to the Triangle fire, factory owners resisted change and fought against the activists trying to achieve it. The most prominent among the industrialists standing in the way of reform were the owners of the Triangle factory, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris.